Every PC user should know how to program, and there’s never been a better time to learn

With the huge variety of computing devices all around us, it’s important to remember what it is that’s special about a full-fledged personal computer. We think the main difference can be summed up in one word: mastery. No matter how much time you spend with an iPad or an Android phone or in a web browser, you can never truly master it. There’s just not enough there to learn. But the PC? That’s different. The PC goes deep.

Note: This article was originally featured in the October 2013 issue of the magazine

With our lab coats donned, our test benches primed, and our benchmarks at the ready, we look for answers to nine of the most burning performance-related questions

If there’s one thing that defines the Maximum PC ethos, it’s an obsession with Lab-testing. What better way to discern a product’s performance capabilities, or judge the value of an upgrade, or simply settle a heated office debate? This month, we focus our obsession on several of the major questions on the minds of enthusiasts. Is liquid cooling always more effective than air? Should serious gamers demand PCIe 3.0? When it comes to RAM, are higher clocks better? On the surface, the answers might seem obvious. But, as far as we’re concerned, nothing is for certain until it’s put to the test. We’re talking tests that isolate a subsystem and measure results using real-world workloads. Indeed, we not only want to know if a particular technology or piece of hardware is truly superior, but also by how much. After all, we’re spending our hard-earned skrilla on this gear, so we want our purchases to make real-world sense. Over the next several pages, we put some of the most pressing PC-related questions to the test. If you’re ready for the answers, read on.

Note: This article was originally featured in the October 2013 issue of the magazine

Fastest. SSD. Ever.

The Samsung 840 Pro landed on our Best of the Best list when it was launched in December 2012, and it has remained at the top of the SSD pile ever since, thanks to its blistering speed, impeccable pedigree, and superb software. Shortly after the Pro launched, Samsung debuted a non-Pro drive, named simply “840,” that was designed for those who wanted a less expensive drive with a smaller three-year warranty. This month, Samsung is replacing the regular 840 with the 840 Evo, an all-new drive that slots in below the 840 Pro, thanks to its three-year warranty (the Pro’s is five years) and more reasonable pricing. The Evo is also offered in a full range of capacities, from 120GB all the way up to 1TB, making it the first Samsung SSD available at that size and putting the 1TB Crucial M500 directly in its sights, although the Evo does cost $50 more at $650 MSRP.

Note: This review was originally featured in the October 2013 issue of the magazine.

What if we’re doing this copyright thing all wrong?

What if we’re doing this copyright thing all wrong? Well, we obviously are, but what if we acknowledged that fact? What if we acknowledged that copyright as it stands doesn’t make anyone happy or make the world a better place or actually reflect how people really behave? What if we, as New Zealand Judge David Harvey has suggested, throw out the basis and rebuild copyright on something that makes sense?

This month, we build an affordable AMD-based gaming rig to find out just how good (or bad) a CPU/GPU combo can be

The Mission We've put together some spendy systems recently. Hey, there’s a reason this mag is called Maximum PC. However, it’s caused a few readers to wonder if we drive gold-plated Humvees to work. As if! We have chauffeurs for that kind of thing. The fact is, we like the challenge of building to a rig’s optimum potential, at any price. So this month, we turn the tables and go full-on budget build.

Note: This article was originally featured in the October 2013 issue of the magazine.

Hard drives you can actually smack down

When it comes to your data, there are times when a USB key doesn't have the capacity or speed you need, and you can't afford to have a delicate hard drive smashing on the floor. Enter ruggedized USB 3.0 hard drives, which address all of our needs by combining speed and reliability into a supremely portable package. We put three such drives to the test, and found out which one has the speed you crave and the durability you require.

Note: This article was taken from the October 2013 issue of the magazine.

Give a little, take a little

We don’t know how it started, but heat spreaders on today’s RAM sticks have gotten kinda out of control. So, gearheads these days have to get pretty creative (or potentially destructive) to fit most large aftermarket CPU coolers on the motherboard. Thermaltake had the bright idea to just make a more compact cooler, with not one but two 120mm fans on it. NiC stands for “Non-Interference Cooling,” and its C5 model sits at the top of the vendor’s lineup. With five heat pipes and 230 watts of heat dissipation, it’s ready for serious cooling, and it won’t get in the way of your RAM slots.

Note: This review was originally featured in the October 2013 issue of the magazine.

A bit too extreme, as it turns out

Last month, we reviewed two GeForce GTX 770 cards from Asus and Gigabyte that cost just $10 more than the reference design, but were well-cooled and only slightly overclocked. That’s too boring for MSI, which decided to take its flagship GeForce GTX N770 Lightning to an extreme not previously seen.

Note: This review was originally featured in the October 2013 issue of the magazine.

‘Reveille’ for the multiplayer; ‘Taps’ for the solo campaign

To be honest, we really wanted to dislike Company of Heroes 2. As is tradition whenever we have a new strategy game, we immediately fired up the game’s skirmish mode and cracked open a delicious can of soda to accompany (what we assumed would be) a short march to victory.

Note: This review was originally featured in the October 2013 issue of the magazine.